A murky past is better left forgotten
by Flower Angel Becca
Summary: A Fullmetal Alchemist story set in an AU; It all started the day his own father sold him off to a slave market, after that...Shou Tucker's life was never the same again.
1. A father's decision

**A murky past is better left forgotten.**

**Chapter One - A father's decision.**

**Authors Notes: This story is based off of a Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic by Rose ( Spaceroses) a friend of mine;  
****The story is an AU set in a more fantasy-like era and focuses on the Fullmetal Alchemist characters within this alternate universe.  
****This following story is a gift from me, and it follows the past of this story universe's version of Shou Tucker.**

**I hope you like this Rose! ^_^ :: Hugs::  
****And also to everyone else who reads the story; enjoy! **

**Shou Tucker belongs to Hiromu Arakawa, BONES, Square Enix.  
****Jacob Tucker and Peter Andrews belong to Rebecca Mason ( me!)**

There was no denying it, they were always there at the back of his mind, memories that had partially been clouded over by time and partially for the fact of forgetting they even existed in the first place.  
But no matter how deeply tucked away in Shou's mind they were, there would always be times when the memories would resurface to haunt him in his sleep...

It was a rather gloomy day within the kingdom of Amestris as the clouds above began to darken with the amount of moisture that had formed within them, it was no wonder that a heavy downpour would soon begin.  
Yet through all of this miserable weather, the spirits of the people living in East City were high as they joyfully celebrated the birth of a new prince who had entered into the world just a few hours previously.

The sound of singing and laughing could be heard from the numerous taverns in the streets, each building seemed to be full to the brim with people that were eager to join in with the celebrations; and an orange glow filtered out through the windows and doorways, giving off a pleasant aura to an otherwise gloomy street.  
However...the thought of celebrations was not in the mind of one bespectacled man as he walked rather briskly down the cobblestone streets with his young son who seemed to be struggling to keep up with the older man's pace.  
The child in question had curiously looked up at the sky after a cold raindrop had splashed onto his nose, only to let out a surprised yelp when his father grabbed ahold of his hand and started to run towards the nearest tavern for shelter.

The man's tavern of choice was one that seemed to be a bit more quieter than the rest and only seemed to have a few people inside.  
' _Good, I'll be able to hear myself think_' he thought to himself as he stepped into the building, followed closely by his son.

The bartender of the tavern had just been cleaning out a glass when his attention turned to the two newcomer's...the older one being more reconisable as a regular at the tavern; a blonde eyebrow raised somewhat questionally as the father and son started to come towards the bar.  
" I'm sorry Mr. Tucker, but I'm afraid we don't serve drinks to minors" he told the bespectacled man with a slight grin on his face.

Giving a slight roll of his eyes, Mr. Jacob Tucker just shook his head and gazed at the bar-man with a less than amused expression.  
" Very funny Pete, I didn't bring Shou here for his first drink...he's not even eighteen yet" he stated dryly before patting the boy in-question's shoulder and pointed over to a clear place within the room.  
" Go and play over there Shou, Daddy needs to talk about adult business"

Shou said nothing in response ( never really being the kind of boy to say much) as he just stared up at his father with innocent blue eyes, before finally giving a nod and just walking over to the corner of the room with the hope that he'd find something fun to do.

Jacob just gave his son a fatherly smile before looking back to the barman, his expression seemed to become much more serious as his cold blue eyes focused on the other man's.  
" Peter I need to ask you, when are they holding the next slave market?" was the only question the young man asked as he took a seat on one of the bar stools.  
Although as the man in question gave him a quizzical look, Jacob just gave a light shrug.  
" It's a business matter..."

Peter just looked over to the calander that was hanging on the wall and just looked at the date that had been freshly marked with ink from a quill pen as the Prince's birthday.  
" Well by the looks of things, it won't be today..." the middle-aged man replied as he scratched his head slightly.  
" It's been declared a national holiday because of the birth of the new prince" although Pete then just chuckled slightly and pointed out to one of the other taverns.  
" Of course...the only places that are working over this glorious holiday is the taverns; I should think that the streets will be full of drunken people, attempting to stumble their way home"

Jacob just gave a look of amusement at that...but in reality he really just found the whole holiday thing pointless.  
' _What's so special about it? the prince is just another human in this forever-growing world; nothing but another mouth to feed, nurture and spend money on...and yet, the entire kingdom throws a holiday upon his birthday...if only everyone else had that same privilege, but then that would really tip the world's economy upside down_'  
" Yes, I hear King and Queen Mustang were quite pleased at this new arrival..." he responded, trying to at least sound civil on the whole matter; he couldn't be showing disrespect towards royalty afterall!  
" We can only hope that he'll reign this country with a strong hand like his father and Grandfather before him"  
However his anxiousness grew over the next slave market when Pete had started to talk even more about the little prince and how the future seemed bright for everyone within the kingdom...at this rate, Jacob would never get to do business!

In the meantime, little Shou was quite happily minding his own business in the area of the tavern that Jacob had said for him to go to.  
There hadn't really been any toys to play with though ( much to the four year old's disappointment) but in the end, Shou had just settled for making shadows on the wall and after that, had decided to play imaginary with him thinking that he was an explorer in uncharted territory.  
" And so, adventurer Shou Tucker makes his way through scary ground...hoping to find places that no one has ever seen before!" he chanted to himself, mispronouncing a few words as could be expected for a child his age.

The scent of wood on the timber panels on the wall seemed to waft up the little boy's nose, obviously they'd only just been put up by Pete as means of improving the interior so that it looked more appealing to people who prefered to dine or drink in more sophisticated-looking places...and the barman had often complained that people should just be happy with what they have.  
But the glow that the panels gave off whenever the fire-place was lit often produced a rather warm and comfortable atmosphere, the firelight's yellow-orange flames ( despite being a fair bit away from the wooden panels) blended well with the brown shade of the wood and so the glow was a cross between a soft red and a warm orange.  
And a lot of people had commented on how nice the atmosphere from this colour combination, was...so Pete had decided to leave the panels up.

The wooden panels however didn't really matter to Shou as he carried on with his imaginary quest; as he started to creep along the floor, Shou seemed to be oblivious to the conversation between his father and the barman...and only managed to catch a few words such as ' prince', ' kingdom' and ' following in the king's footsteps' neither of which really made sense to the young boy at all.  
But he did end up incorporating the first two words into his make-believe game.

" And if I come across an undiscovered kingdom...it could be ruled by a young prince!" he didn't know much about prince's...but his mother had often told him that they were little boys who practically got anything they ever wanted...but she had then countered that even though they got everything they ever wanted, they sometimes never seemed satisfied and ended up wanting more...at least, that's what happened to the king of Amestris a long, long, long time ago.  
" Although I'd have to be quick in finding him...otherwise he could end up wishing for immortality and be eaten by a dragon like the king that Mama had told me about!"

That story had always frightened Shou...even if Emily had told about it having an important moral at the end; about not trying to reach for things that humans weren't meant to reach for, otherwise it could end up destroying them in the end.  
Yet the little boy had ended up interpreting it quite differently; _**Don't wish for living a longer life otherwise a big dragon will eat you and then eat it's own tail so you can never get out.  
**_And what's more, it had made perfect sense to Shou...  
So with his mother's story in mind, Shou finally started to get on with his imaginary quest to find a new kingdom and try and save the non-existant prince from meeting a grisly end.

In the meantime, Jacob had been growing more and more impatient with Pete's talks about royalty and how much the kingdom of Amestris had flourished over the last decade or so...and eventually, the bespectacled man just ran a hand through his wavy light-brown hair nervously and flashed his blonde friend a strained grin.  
" Yes Pete, it is quite insightful and I really do appreciate you sharing all of that fascinating information with me..." he lied through nearly gritted teeth, his tone seemed to hold an undeniable sense of boredom in it...but he was at least attempting to cover it up with a more enthusiastic tone.  
"...But I really want to know when they will be holding the next slave-market, because it's a really important matter"

Pete just looked to Jacob for a moment with a clueless looking expression before finally giving a sigh and turning his attention to the calandar once more.  
" Well...things will probably be back to everyday business tomorrow, so the next slave market will probably happen then...or if not tomorrow, then more certainly in two or three days time"  
The smile that Jacob seemed to do seemed to suggest that the information was enough for him...or so it would seem.  
Although there was something rather untrustworthy about that smile; Jacob had never asked about the slave-market before...and to just suddenly ask this question out of the blue? something was definately up.  
" Erm...but aren't you a little bit tight on money to consider purchasing a slave?"

Jacob didn't really say anything in response to that at first, other than give a small smile and shrug.  
His attention then turned to the window as the rain outside became heavier, the splashing sound of raindrops hitting the cobblestones and the window sil could be heard more than clearly...the twenty-something though that it was amazing how a lot of tiny raindrops could make such a big noise.  
Eventually, Jacob spoke up once more...but his words were far from comforting.  
" Who said I was going to be purchasing anything? I need to sell something..."

That just made Pete go silent for a bit...and for a while, the sound of the raindrops, a few other people talking, the clinking of glasses and young Shou talking to himself were the only sounds that seemed to cover up the awkwardness of the moment.  
' _What on earth is it that he wants to sell?_' he mentally asked himself, not really liking where this was going.  
Pete was no stranger to the conditions that the Tucker family lived in; he knew that buying things, even the most basic things such as food and clothing was starting to become difficult for them.  
And even with the job Jacob was in, the factory gave out a meager wage...that hardly helped the Tucker's situation either.  
" I see...erm...so is it some person you and Emily took in off the street or something like that?"

Again, there came that un-nerving silence...and it was now that Pete began to show signs of discomfort.  
" Dang it Jacob, just spit it out!" Pete exclaimed all of a sudden, not being able to stand the stalling silence from his friend any longer.  
" If it's not some wandering tramp, than who the heck is it? don't tell me you're selling you own wife?!"

Jacob actually pulled a genuinely shocked expression at that and frowned at the looks that some of the other people gave him...this was the last thing he needed!  
Giving a dismissive wave to them, Jacob turned to face Pete and shook his head.  
" What kind of man do you take me for? of course I'd never sell my own wife!" and he meant it too, Emily was perhaps the best thing that had ever happened to him in his entire lifetime.  
" But times are getting desperate; and me and Emily need a good income...I've heard the money you can get by selling a slave that's in good condition is most profitable"  
Jacob then trailed off and said no more on the matter but just gave a look to Pete, just to see if he could figure out the rest...

Pete just thought in silence for a few moments...yet his expression soon darkened as he finally caught onto what Jacob was implying; and perhaps it was a good ( or not so good) thing that Shou's imaginary quest had taken him out of the main room at this time.  
" You're going to sell your own son?!" Pete practically roared, slamming both his hands down on the bar as he scowled at Jacob.  
However, the angry blonde barely gave Jacob any time to respond before he started up again.  
" Are you out of your mind? he's just a four year old child!"

" Don't you think I haven't realised that?" Jacob sighed in response and just adjusted his glasses a little as they'd started to slip down slightly.  
" I don't see why you're over-reacting...it's not like I'm sending Shou to his death or anything like that; besides I already said...me and Emily desperately need the money"

" Over-reacting? over-reacting?! Jacob, Shou's your own flesh-and-blood for goodness sakes...and you're just willing to sell him off to that dreaded slave market as if he was a piece of prime meat!"  
He just couldn't understand it...how could a supposedly loving father sell out his own kid, his own defenseless little kid who was more or less still a toddler; and all for the sake of getting more money...that's all this was about, trading something that could think and feel for nothing but cold and lifeless pennies.  
And what's more, Jacob didn't seem to see anything wrong with it!

Noting his friend's rising temper, Jacob just bit his bottom lip...this was the reason that he hadn't really wanted to reveal the reason in the first place, as Pete's temper could be quite frightening at times like these.  
As a few beads of sweat trickled down his face, Jacob just did an audible gulp and seemed to edge off of his stool slightly.  
" It was because of something Lord Yoki told me!" he exclaimed, hoping that would be enough to justify his reasoning.  
" He told me that he's sold children to the slave market loads of times, his own children Pete...he said that people do this all the time, so it can't be wrong!"

Pete's blue eyes just narrowed at the mention of Yoki's name and let loose with a disapproving huff.  
" You mean to tell me that you believed that greedy swindler?" he muttered, shaking his head slightly in disbelief.  
" Yoki's a born liar who'll do anything he can to make a fortune...have you ever heard the story about the fox and the rabbit, Jacob? you know...where the rabbit tells the fox that he'll sell his family to the market and the fox decides to do the same; both of them do just that, they put both of their families into different bags and tie them up...but unknown to the fox, the rabbit made a hole in the bag he'd placed his family in...  
So that when the cart came to take them away to the market, the rabbits escape through the hole in the bag and go back to the rabbit...while the fox's family are carried off to market"  
And it was then that expression of Pete's seemed to look even darker than before...although this time it was more of a foreboding warning look rather than an angry one.  
" It's like that story Jacob...and you're not the rabbit"

Jacob just remained silent after that...but the expression on his face clearly showed some discomfort in what Pete had said.  
' _What if he's right?_' his thoughts seemed to tell him.  
' _Perhaps this is just some kind of trick..._'  
Unfortunately, Jacob soon frowned and just shook his head...his mind had already been made up the moment that he'd got Pete's answer on when the slave-market was; and as far as Jacob was concerned, nothing Pete said was going to shake him from his final decision.  
" Yes well...since you've finally given me the answer I wanted to know, I think me and Shou will be going now..." and with that Jacob pulled himself up off of the stool and went to look for where his son had got to, asking people for the wherabouts of his son when he saw that Shou had seemingly strayed from the place where his father had told him to wait.

Shou had by this time, come close to reaching the small kitchen that was down a dimly-lit corridor...apparently at this point in time his 'quest' had reached an interesting point, he had found a guardian beast that kept watch outside the kingdom! in the shape of a little mouse.  
" You haven't tried to bite me yet..." the four year old mused as he gazed down at the little animal as it sat cleaning it's whiskers...it did seem to come across as quite tame, even when Shou slowly got down on his hands and knees in order to peek at the mouse even more.  
" Oh I get it! you must be a guardian beast in-training!" he stated, feeling somewhat relieved that getting to the undiscovered 'kingdom' would be easy afterall.

After a few more minutes of awkward silence and looking in wonder at the little mouse, the mouse in-question had stopped cleaning it's whiskers and was now looking right at the four year old, it's little nose and whiskers twitched with almost as much curiousity as Shou himself was showing.  
Yet some large footsteps sounding on the wooden floor startled the poor little thing...and before Shou knew it, the mouse was scampering away to hide.

" No wait, come back! the kingdom's going to be unguarded if you don't come back and someone bad could come and enter the kingdom!" Shou called out to the mouse, stretching his chubby arm out to it...but alas, he couldn't catch it.  
Although a small chuckle just got the boy to look around and see Jacob standing there with his arms folded and a slightly amused expression on his face.

" And what bad person might that be Shou? not your old man I hope" Jacob just said, although he had noticed the mouse as it ran off and just looked a bit uneasy about that.  
" You know how your mother gets when you play around with animals like that Shou...they could carry things that might make you sick"  
' _So Pete's got mice here, huh? ...it won't be good for his business if those disgusting things breed..._'  
" I hope you didn't touch it..."

Shou got to his feet all at once and just shook his head.  
" N-no, not at all Daddy" Shou replied honestly and just did a nervous little laugh.  
" It's just that I was trying to find an undiscovered kingdom...but the guardian beast was in front of it; but it seemed friendly...so we had a talk" well...it had actually been a one-sided conversation, but for some reason Shou quite liked the idea of if these supposed guardian beasts could talk.

One of Jacob's eyebrows raised slightly as he took in the things that his son had just told him.  
' _The boy's got quite an imagination, I'll give him that..._' the young man thought to himself before coming over to Shou and holding onto his hand.  
" Anyway, come on...Daddy's finished talking business with Mr. Pete, so we can go home and see how Mommy's doing"

" But-!" Shou retorted...although he soon thought better not to argue against his father, for some reason his father never seemed to understand any of the stuff his own son came up with, so why would now be any different.  
" Okay Daddy..." the four year old sighed and just clutched ahold of two of his father's fingers ( his hand was too small to hold onto all of Jacob's hand) as the two walked back to the main bar-part of the tavern and began to go towards the door.

Thankfully, the rain from before had now stopped...but the skies above were still a miserable shade of grey; but that didn't put off Jacob from going home in the slightest.  
Yet as he and Shou made their way out of the door, Jacob just heard Pete's voice follow him out...the tone of it being somewhere between unimpressed yet pitiying.

" _**I hope you know you're making a mistake, Jacob...it's going to come back to haunt you someday!**_"

At Pete's words, Jacob just gritted his teeth and began to walk faster...the last thing he needed now was someone acting as his conscience; it just made doing what he needed to do, what he **had** to do, even more difficult.

Shou had also heard Pete's words to Jacob and looked up at Jacob with a worried look, he could see that something seemed to be bothering his father just by looking at his face.  
" Daddy...Mr. Pete's not angry at you, is he?" he asked innocently.  
' _Did Daddy do something bad? Mr. Pete's never been angry at him before_' but that couldn't be right...Shou's father was a respectable man afterall, he'd never done anything wrong.

That got Jacob to mentally wince as even Shou had obviously picked up on Pete's words; looking down to his little boy as they walked along the street, Jacob only just managed to strain a reassuring smile.  
" No Shou...I think he must of been talking to another Jacob that's all...afterall, there can be more than one person with the same name" he insisted, trying to make his words sound as honest as possible...hoping for all that it was worth that his son wouldn't see through his lies, he could be a perceptive boy afterall!

However, it seemed as if that was all it took for the four year old just gave a little nod.  
" Ahh, okay then..." Shou said and then just smiled sweetly up his father.

Jacob more or less did a mental sigh of relief when Shou had decided to leave it at that...although the unsettling feeling caused by Peter's words didn't seem to go away and the bespectacled man certainly hoped that it wouldn't end up making him change his mind.  
' _Pete's got it all wrong, this sacrifice I'm making is for the good of our family... our boy is stronger than a lot of the other kids sent there, he'll be successful...and when all will seem lost, he'll rise like the legendary phoenix from the flames; I know he will, he has to..._' he mentally told himself, over and over again as father and son eventually arrrived home.

It may of been wonderful time for little Shou then; but in two days time, little did he know that everything would change and his life would never be the same again...

**To be continued. **


	2. Ignorance is bliss

**A murky past is better left forgotten.**

**Chapter Two - Ignorance is bliss.**

**Authors Notes: This story is based off of a Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic by Rose ( Spaceroses) a friend of mine;  
****The story is an AU set in a more medieval fantasy-like era and focuses on the Fullmetal Alchemist characters within this alternate universe.**

**This following story is a gift from me, and it follows the past of this story universe's version of Shou Tucker.  
****I hope you like this Rose! ^_^ :: Hugs::  
****And also to everyone else who reads the story; enjoy! **

**Shou Tucker and Yoki belong to Hiromu Arakawa, BONES, Square Enix.  
****Jacob Tucker and Emily Tucker belong to Rebecca Mason ( me!)**

In the first chapter; Jacob Tucker had made plans to sell his only son, Shou, to a local slave-market...just how will that turn out? read on to find out.

**-------------**

Exactly three days had passed since the birth of the young Prince and already things within the kingdom had returned to normal; people were going about their everyday business, shops were open and selling their produce...and the local slavemarket was up and running in town once more.  
And that was precisely where Jacob was taking his unsuspecting young son on this dry but cloudy day.  
Along the way, Jacob was lost in thought as he reminisced about the other night that he told his wife, Emily about his plan to sell their only son to the slavemarket in order to get some money in return...naturally that ended up not going over so well.

" _**He's our own son! how could you even think of doing something so selfish?!"**_ his wife's upset words echoed through Jacob's head.  
" _**Do you really think he could survive out there? you'll be sending little Shou to an early grave!"**_ there was no denying it, her reaction was no different from how Peter's had been... but again Jacob failed to understand the reason why.

_**" This will be better for us in the end Emily...I mean if we get money and save it up, then we would eventually have enough to buy him back...right?"**_ he'd asked her with a hopeful look in his eyes.

Yet Emily had still disagreed with her husband and said something about how his idealism clouded his own sense of right and wrong; the arguement between them had carried on nearly all night until Emily had just ended it with something that sounded more like a guilt-tripping statement along the lines of _**" If you go through with this, let it be known that I'll never forgive you, Jacob"**_ towards him, before marching off to bed.

Yet throughout it all, Jacob had done his best not to let it get to him...but the entire ordeal had been extremely aggravating.  
' _Women...they never listen to you, never listen to reason and when there's something they adore, they cling to it and refuse to give it up_' he inwardly grumbled as he held onto Shou's hand lightly, his thoughts now feeling anger towards the two people who had gone against his decision.  
' _As for Pete...I should of expected him to be like that, he was raised by his mother afterall...perhaps it is a good thing I'm doing this, Shou won't grow up to be like a wet blanket!_' for all Jacob knew, this experience as a _**temporary**_ slave would toughen the boy up to be a proper man in Jacob's eyes.  
' _You can't hide behind your mother's legs forever, my boy...this is a chance for you to see how the world really is_' the young man thought as he glanced down at his young son, who seemed more interested in looking at the surroundings they passed rather than their destination.

The scenery remained pretty much the same as Jacob and Shou made their way down the cobbled streets, past houses bunched together in groups and a few shops; down dreary-looking back alleys where a few rats could be heard scuttling about, and finally to the town square where horse-drawn carts were being unloaded and a variety of people at different ages were being led to wooden stalls, although while some of them seemed healthy enough...there were others that looked completely weathered personality and physical-wise.  
Other people (dressed in more wealthier-looking clothing) seemed to gather in crowds and just talk about all sorts of things that went completely over little Shou's head...but he hardly had any time to stop and listen to them as Jacob seemed to be heading towards a tent that had been set up and just pulled his son along with him.

Once inside the tent, one of the first things Shou noticed was how clean the floor looked in comparison to the dirty streets outside, as the ground had some sort of material laid on it...and another was the small table that had been set up at the other end of the tent's interior.  
A few sacks of gold coins lay, littered on the floor and another few were on the table, admist a stack of papers ( some written on and signed, while others were blank) and a quill pen neatly kept in it's holder.

Although it soon turned out that Jacob and Shou were not the only people in the tent, as a man looked up from counting a few coins that had been spilt out onto the table just a few moments prior to the father and son's entrance; dark eyes that belonged to a pale man with a black moustache and receding black hair, narrowed and stared hard at the newcomer's before a slight smile finally spread across the man's face as his eyes got a look of realisation in them.  
" Ahh Mr. Tucker, it's good to see you...I was afraid that you'd decided to pull out of our little business trade"

" My apologises Master Yoki, I had to clear a few things with my wife before coming here...but that and a few other complications have been sorted out now" Jacob confessed, bowing forward slightly in an apologetic manner.  
" I only hope that my son lives up to your standards..."

Of course what Jacob didn't know at this point in time was that while he and Shou had been going out to the slavemarket, Emily had been sitting at home and sobbing her heart out; her husband really was going through with selling their only son...and that had really broken her trust as well as her heart.  
" How could he just go about treating his own child as if it was nothing but livestock?!" she more or less cried into her hands, her palms turning even more moist by the second as the tears kept coming.  
" Nothing will ever replace our son...why can't that pig-headed husband of mine see that?" the one-sided questions carried on and pretty soon those feelings of sadness and grief were starting to mingle with feelings of anger...and the more Emily thought about it over and over again, the worse it got.

By all accounts, Emily Tucker was not a tough woman by nature, nor was she the most out-going...but the young woman could think for herself, and right now nothing mattered more than getting even with the man who took away her pride and joy...but how to go through with it?  
It was common knowlege that there had been a few executions in the past of men or woman who had murdered their loved ones for whatever reason...although some had often claimed that demons had convinced them to do it...but they were executed regardless as those people were then rumoured to have devil familiars; or they were recommended to a doctor to have the 'demons' exorcised from their head...only to die or end up physically damaged ( often by getting holes drilled in their heads) during the process.  
No, murderering her husband by her own hands was not an option and neither was stealing his money, but something had to be done to bring justice for Jacob's actions...and Emily wasn't going to be satisfied until she got what she wanted.

' _The best revenge is one that will affect him on a personal level..._' the young woman thought to herself.  
' _He's already hurt me on a personal level by taking our son away...so perhaps if I was to take myself away from him?_' that sounded awful to think of...but in some sick sense, it made sense.  
" Jacob probably thinks that we can just have another child to replace the one we lost, anyway!" Emily suddenly blurted out to herself in a shocked yet reasonating tone as she finally got up out of the chair and grabbed ahold of a small pouch of money.

It was nothing but an out-of-the-blue suspicion she had that probably wasn't even true...but to Emily; it seemed only too probable enough for Emily to come to her final decision as the young woman made her way out of the front door and onto the streets of East City.  
As she walked along, Emily just smiled rather eeriely as she finally formulated a promising ( yet somewhat idealistic) plan within her head...she'd fake her own death by pretending to poison herself, somehow get Jacob framed for it...and provided that she didn't get buried alive first; Emily upon her awakening, would then go and look for her little boy and get him back...then the two of them would live happily in their little home without the fear of Jacob selling anyone!

With that final comforting image now transfixed in her mind, Emily had no intention of backing out of the plan as her travels began to take her down a lane that led towards the local monastery ( which grew all kinds of medicinal herbs within it's gardens) that was safely tucked away behind a big wall and a number of oak trees.  
Of course this wasn't the first time that the young woman had visited the monastery...the last time she had visited had been around four years ago, just before she'd given birth to Shou and it had been to buy two herbs; Chamomile ( to help her through the pains of labour) and Rosemary ( to protect her infant son from being taken away by faeries) but now the herb Emily hoped to find was of a different nature altogether...

This really was the only place where a peasant woman such as Emily could look for herbs, the only other place that sold such things was an apothecary...but they only served men and woman of high importance or social status; they were also more reliable too...a fact that made the chestnut-haired woman frown by just thinking about it.  
But no...Emily Tucker couldn't worry about that now, she had other important matters to attend to.  
" The monks here have never let me down before, please don't let them fail me this time..." the young woman prayed outloud as she finally reached the entrance's gate...and didn't hesistate in going in.

While Emily was arriving at the monastery, Jacob awaited for Yoki's decision as the balding slave master did a small check-up on the four year old boy...the bespectacled man could only watch in silence as Yoki studied the eyes of Shou, as well as the muscles in his arms and how healthy he seemed to be; this check-up routine was required of all slaves when they were sold to the market and the price often depended on the condition of the individual too.

There wasn't much Shou could do in retaliation as the older man checked him over, aside from let loose a small startled squeak when Yoki had squeezed one of the boy's chubby arms in order to check the muscle mass; but it was very clear that the four year old didn't like this one bit...what kind of person went prodding and poking another person as if they were some kind of experiment anyway?!  
' _I want to go home..._' Shou murmured to himself inwardly, he just wanted to be back at the family home with his mother and if the man in-question wasn't acting too weird, his father; and just play with the few toys that Shou could actually claim that he had.

" Hmm...well this seems to be a promising sale" Yoki finally spoke up as he finished checking Shou over and just turned to face Jacob with a hint of a smirk on his face.  
" We don't often get them as young as this, but the young lad certainly seems to be more alive than the latest purchases we've had here, a slave dropping dead within a few days of working as a result of physical weakness is never good for business..." however...as he noticed Jacob's expression go to that of a shocked one, Yoki quickly changed the subject for fear of losing another sucker...erm...I mean, customer.  
" But your son looks extremely healthy...at the peak of it even!" Yoki insisted with as honesty as he could muster, which in reality wasn't a lot...but Jacob and a dozen other people didn't need to know that.

" However... I also couldn't help but notice that he has a few Xing-like qualities in him; more so in the shape of his eyes than anything else, such a person of that descent is worth a lot more money than your ordinary run-of-the-mill Amestrian..." one dark eyebrow raised somewhat questionally as he looked over to Jacob with a serious expression, if this kid was really Xingnese...then the deal would be even more profitable than Yoki first thought. such a thought made him rub his hands together somewhat gleefully.  
" Of course...the final price will all depend on his blood purity"

Jacob's attention had occasionally been drifting from Yoki as the slave master just seemed to warble on about something, to little Shou...who was now tugging quite firmly on his father's arm, the frightened look on his chubby face seemed to suggest that he didn't want to be here anymore...and just wanted to go home.  
Yet just as Jacob softly ruffled his four year old son's hair and gave a look to show that he really was considering on just going back home with Shou in tow, Yoki caught the bespectacled man's attention once more with the talk of high prices and Xingian blood purity.  
" Blood purity?" that seemed like a rather strange thing to associate with a price.  
" Well it's true that Shou has some Xingian blood in him...but what's that got to do with anything?"

It was that particular response from Jacob that Yoki then just gave a look of disbelief for a few moments...had this man not understood him at all, even though he had spoken in proper english?!  
' _Wonderful...I finally get a promising purchase come up, and the vendor happens to be an idiot_' he mentally grumbled to himself and just did a rather strained grin.  
" Let me offer you a better explanation..." he spoke up again with a slightly nervous chuckle in his voice.  
' _so hopefully this time, it will get through your thick head_'  
" In more recent years...the slave market has started to rely on blood purity within the more foreign slaves that it takes on; in other words...the purer the blood, the higher the price" the balding middle-aged man explained thoroughly, making sure not to leave a single bit out.  
" For someone of Xingian descent, the price is definately high...especially since they're so exotic and all" however his thoughts seemed to say something completely different.  
' _Still, it doesn't make them any more important than anyone else...the only thing good about them is that they make __**me**__ more rich!_'

" Say for example; if a person was to sell a pure-blooded Xingian...the amount of money they'd receive would be equal to that of a Lord" he told Jacob with a knowing gleam in his eyes, he then smirked when Jacob seemed to give a look of awe in response. ' _Finally, the little worm has taken the bait..._'  
" If they were to sell a half-blooded Xingian, then the price wouldn't be as much but it would still be a substantial amount, yet if someone was to sell a person that only had about a quarter of Xingian blood within them...the price would cost more or less the same for say, a week's worth of food? not a lot, I'm afraid..."  
At that moment, Yoki looked Jacob right in the eyes and just gave a rather smug-looking smirk.  
" And judging from your looks Mr. Tucker, I would say that you're definately a full-blooded Amestrian...so you receiving the full price is definately out of the question..."

Cussing mentally to himself, Jacob just looked down at Shou again as he tried to come up with a believeable enough lie concerning his son's Xingian heritage.  
He knew only too well that Emily was actually half Xingian...but to tell the truth and say that Shou was a quarter-blood would mean that Jacob would get less money for his sale.  
' _I'm not doing this to get a small amount of money...if I was to get that, then there would be no use in selling Shou at all, I might as well say he's half Xingian._' yet as Pete's story about the rabbit and the fox came back into his mind, Jacob just seemed to smirk slightly as he finally noticed the comparison between himself and the fox.  
' _That's not how the story's going to end for me though..._' he inwardly told himself as he ruffled his son's hair softly.  
' _Once I get that money and save it up for a few weeks, I should have enough money to buy Shou back from here...then the fox would of finally got revenge on the rabbit_' it was a plan that seemed almost way too idealistic too work...but the young man had a lot of confidence in it.

Looking back to Yoki, an almost smug grin formed on Jacob's face as he then folded his arms and spoke up once more.  
" If you want to know, Shou's half Xingian...his mother was imported from Xing years ago to initially work as a slave...but she managed to escape the market and I was the one to find her" oh this was one heck of a spun-out lie...but the bespectacled man was doing everything he could to make it sound believeable.  
" She was a little wary of me for quite some time...but we did eventually grow close to one another" and with a swift motion towards his four year old son, Jacob just did a rather bashful grin.  
" I should think my son's existance is proof of that, huh?"

Yoki just looked to Jacob with narrowed eyes as he looked at the younger man's body language...his tone may of sounded convincing, but was there really a reason for him to be as nervous as he was letting on?  
" I see...I have to say that it is quite an interesting story Mr. Tucker, but if your wife was once a slave herself...don't you think she'd be rather wary of you sending your own son to the very market where she was destined to go? I should think that if you sold your wife, you'd be nearly as rich as I am"

Jacob had dreaded what Yoki's reaction to that would be...but the answer to the moustached man's question came out much more naturally then he thought it would.  
" I'm afraid that we already took our wedding vows a long time ago...and another reason is that my wife has been rather ill lately..." it was at that point that he grinned slightly.  
" And you said so yourself...healthy slaves tend to have a lot more promise than those that are ill"

As Shou just listened to the two men continue on with their talking, his need to go home grew even more.  
' _Why did Daddy mention Mommy just now? what's an Xingian? and what's wrong with my blood? it's red, just like everyone else's isn't it?_' the questions just seemed to spin around like crazy in the little boy's mind so much, that the poor thing had actually started to feel physically dizzy.  
He honestly couldn't understand why his father was acting so weird all of a sudden, or the reason as to why money seemed to be heavily involved with what Jacob and Yoki were talking about.

Toddling away from his father's side, Shou walked over to one of the big money bags that were open and just sat down on it; his attention shifted down to the floor as he drew his legs up and rested his chin on his knees.  
' _I just want to go home...or at least go out and play, it's boring in here..._' but as much as he wanted to go out, his father had said for him to do nothing of the sort and chances are that if the little boy did wander off, he would only get into trouble...and so Shou just remained sitting on the open money bag; hoping that Jacob would take him home soon.

Yoki's eyebrow twitched in annoyance slightly when he had heard Jacob's words...if there was anything he hated, it was being being corrected by someone of a much lower social class than him, and while he really wanted to punch Jacob for that...the balding man remembered that this man before him was willing to sell his only son for a price, not many customers ( let alone sane people) did that so that in itself was somewhat respectable to the slave-master's slimy world of business; besides...the concequences of this event would be on Jacob's shoulders, not Yoki's.  
" Yes you're right...so I suppose this means that we have a deal then, don't we?" he asked with a sleazy grin speading across his features.

Glancing over to Shou who was still sitting on the money-bag, Yoki couldn't help but do an amused look when he and apparently **only** he managed to see the cruel irony in that little sight.  
' _The child has more or less set himself up to be sold!_' he thought to himself as he shook hands with Jacob.  
" That bag of gold that your son is sitting on is now yours...I believe that it is the right amount of money for a half-blooded child such as himself" but by the sounds of things, the deal wasn't finished there as he looked back to the bespectacled man and spoke up again.  
" However...there is one more thing I require all my customers to do before this deal is over" and with that, he walked back to his table and pulled out a piece of paper.  
" Please, come over here..."

Jacob had gone from doing an excited smile at the prospect of the deal finally being over and done with, to an uneasy expression when he saw Yoki beckoning him to come over to the table...although when he saw the piece of paper, Jacob gave a small nod and walked over to where Yoki was.  
Once there, his light-blue eyes glanced down at the writing that was on the paper. " An-and this is a?"

Giving Jacob a rather unimpressed look, Yoki just gave a sigh of disbelief and shook his head slightly...were the poor people in this city really this dense?!  
" It's a contract to end the deal, all I need you to do is sign on that line at the bottom of the page and then you can receive your money" yet his mind couldn't help but make a nasty jibe. ' _That is, if you even know how to write!_'

' _So signing this is all I need to do and then it's all over..._' Jacob told himself mentally as he gingerly picked up the quill pen from it's holder and glanced over to Shou with a lost expression forming on his face...oh he knew what this meant alright, once he signed this contract; Shou would no longer be apart of a family and Jacob would finally be able to pull himself and Emily up out of poverty.  
Yet as much as he looked forward to getting the money, a sick feeling of guilt was starting to form in Jacob's stomach and didn't seem like it was going to stop anytime soon...

' _It has to be done...I've already made up my mind, there's no going back on it now_' he adamantly kept telling himself in his mind; no matter how bad the guilt was getting...Jacob was going to remain by his decision and his plan, he wasn't going to throw it away now.  
' _Shou my boy...don't think that just because I'm doing this, that I don't love you because I do...but sometimes one must lose the most precious thing in their life in order to obtain something just as precious, things will get better once I've earned enough money to buy you back from here...I promise_' those apologetic and rather regretful words failed to leave Jacob's mouth as he took a deep breath and scribbled out what could only of been assumed as his name, on the line of the contract and then just put the pen back into it's holder.  
And once that was all done, Mister Tucker looked to Yoki with an almost tired yet mournful expression now on his face.  
" Forgive me for my poor handwriting, but the deal is done...he's all yours"

The words about the deal being done was all Yoki needed to hear in order to do a genuinely pleased smile ( although it didn't really make him look innocent) and he came forward to shake Jacob's hand.  
" Right then it's all settled... it's been a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Tucker!" and with a motion towards Shou and the bag of money, Yoki just did a low chuckle.  
" Well the money is yours now...best to take it and get on with your life, yes?"

Jacob just winced at that as he could practically hear the gleeful tone in Yoki's voice, but just gave a nod and started to walk towards Shou with that regretful look still on his face.  
' _I'm sorry Shou...I'm really, really sorry_' he thought to himself as he knelt down to the boy and just gave him a sudden hug, it would probably be the last time in a long while that he'd get to do something like this; so Jacob thought he'd make the most of it now. " Shou...you do know that I love you, right?" the bespectacled man found himself asking in a slightly uneasy tone.

Shou had been rather surprised by the sudden hug from his father but made no attempt to squirm away from it...perhaps he'd finally figured out that the little boy didn't like it here and was ready to take him home to Emily!  
Although at Jacob's question, Shou's eyebrows furrowed upwards into a worried frown and he just gave a nod. " Of course I know that you love me, Daddy...and I know that you love Mommy too" he responded, his tone sounding as reassuring as a four year old could get.

Jacob seemed to grimace at the mention of how Emily loved him too...and that just got the young man to hug his son just a little bit tighter.  
' _You may love me, but your mommy might not when I go back home without you..._' it was ironic really...earlier on, Jacob had told himself not to be so concerned over what Emily would do about this, being as Jacob was the man of the house, yet now he was mentally quivering with fear over it...funny how having time to think over things rapidly changed someone's mind.

But it was too late to take Yoki back on that offer...Jacob had officially sold Shou and it was now time to face the concequences that awaited the man back at home, whether Jacob liked it or not.  
Pulling back from Shou slightly, Jacob tried to smile at his son...but it could only come out strained as the guilt was making it hard to even look at the little boy now; how was he going to go about this? explain to the boy that Daddy had to go somewhere...or just start walking without offering any explaination to the child? ...of course no matter which option he went with in the end, the outcome would most likely be the same.  
' _What can I tell him? what should I do? the last thing I'd ever want to see is my son wailing like a baby...there has to be something I can do that will mean easy-leavings for me..._'

However...with a child as young as Shou, Jacob soon began to wonder if it would make a difference if he was to phrase things a bit differently rather than saying a flat-out farewell. ' _It's not like I'd be doing anything illegal or anything like that...I could just tell him a harmless little white-lie, keep his hopes up...I mean, it's not like he's going to be in here for the rest of his life!_' the young man's mind reasonated to himself, still so sure that things were going to run as smoothly as he imagined them doing.  
" I'm...I'm glad to hear that" Jacob finally responded and after patting Shou on the head, stood up to his full height again.  
" Because...because Daddy has some things that he needs to take care of and while he does that, you have to stay here" well as far as Jacob was concerned, his words weren't **that** much of a lie...just how wrong could it of been to do this?

The smile on Shou's chubby face faded a little and took on a more quizzical look instead...his father needed him to stay at this scary old place? well that was new to the four year old; normally when Jacob needed to do something, Shou just stayed in his mother's company while Jacob worked in the small study area...obviously whatever Jacob wanted to do didn't include reading books.  
" You have to take care of some things?" the little boy repeated and just put his hands behind his back.  
" What kind of things, Daddy?"

'_ I forgot how perceptive the boy was..._' Jacob muttered inwardly to himself before laughing nervously and just gave a small shrug of his shoulders. " Now, now Shou; you know that being nosey towards others isn't very polite...Daddy just has a lot of grown-up work to do and your mother can't have you running around her legs all day, we need to give her a rest for a while...that's why I brought you here"  
Emily needed a rest and his father needed to work? Shou still seemed a little puzzled as to why he'd been brought to such a strange place if that was the case, surely his parents would still be able to work even if he was there, right?

But Jacob's words seemed convincing...and eventually, the little boy just gave a understanding ( yet somewhat uneasy-looking) nod.  
" O-okay...so you'll be coming back later to bring me home?" Shou responded...yet that question ended up slipping in there at the last minute, his blue eyes seemed to look hopeful of Jacob's answer being a good one.

Jacob had just smiled a little at that, although he winced when he heard a rather annoyed 'Hmph!' from Yoki, obviously the other man was growing impatient with the young man for stalling.  
" Yes, yes I'll come back to take you home again soon...you, me and Mommy will all be together at home again and enjoying a nice supper! that'd be nice, huh?" his words came quickly and slightly awkward sounding but incredibly sure-sounding, having already creating a seemingly ideal image of that situation within his head, even Jacob himself was nearly falling for his own lie...if only it would of been possible for him to buy back his son on that same day...  
" But I have to go for now...be a good boy for me, okay Shou?" and with that, Jacob waved to Shou and started to head towards the tent's opening.

" Uh-huh, I promise to be good boy, Daddy!" the little boy responded and started waving back; well of course he'd have to be a good boy...even at the age of four years old, Shou had long since realised that you only ever got praised for good behaviour...and he happened to enjoy being praised quite a bit.  
It wasn't a crime, it wasn't something un-natural for a child his age, Shou just liked it when his parents and other people smiled at him gently...he liked it when they talked in friendly voices, patted him on the head and told him what a good boy he was.  
So perhaps...perhaps if he was a good boy and stayed at this place like his father said for him to; maybe Jacob and Emily would get Shou something nice as a present for good behaviour...needless to say that little Shou liked that thought a lot.

However...as much as he looked forward to the possible praise, Shou also felt quite nervous about being more or less left alone in a strange place that he'd never been to before and it was only natural for a child to miss their parents, and as the realisation was finally starting to sink in; Shou didn't like the thought about being away from them at all...surely Jacob wouldn't leave him here for long, right?  
" But...but it won't be for long, right Daddy? promise that you'll come back soon!" his expression had now gone to looking rather worried, a look to fit his words as he looked to his father...Shou longed to run over to his father and give him one more hug, but no...he'd have to be a big boy for the moment...stay brave, he had to stay brave for this!

That got Jacob to faulter somewhat as he finally reached the tent's entrance/exit...and as Shou had said those words, Jacob winced and seemed to grip onto the tent's material slightly...a promise, why did Shou have to say the dreaded words of a promise when everything from this point seemed so uncertain? but if a promise was what would make the child happy...  
" I promise...you won't have to wait long" Jacob seemed to strain with his answer a little and just did a saddened smile ( although he tried to put on a brave face) and then just turned to walk out into the street.  
Jacob's steps quickened in pace as the man's thoughts began racing through his mind yet again, doubts anew were rising and of course there was confronting Emily when he got home...the guilt was starting to make his stomach churn, oh how he thought he'd managed to get everything sorted out in his mind, how he thought that he'd finally feel much more braver after the main hurdle was out of the way...but with how he was feeling as he started to break into a run away from the slave-market, Jacob was beginning to wonder if he'd been oh so very wrong.

And while Jacob walked on to an uncertain future...Shou could only wait in the slave-market, having not caught the strain in his father's voice...or the fact that Jacob had been very hasty on leaving, the four year old remained hopeful that his father would keep that promise...yet oblivious to the fact that his life was now going to less easier than it had been; much less the fact that it was his own beloved father who had sold him off for a better life...  
But for the moment, believing in hopes and promises was the only thing that the little boy could do...after all, his father would come back to get him and take him back home before sunset...wouldn't he?  
" You promised me Daddy, so come back soon..." the child murmured quietly as he just went over to the tent's opening and stood there, looking out at the street and some other people as they just bustled along, too busy caught up in their own business to even pay any mind to the rather sad-looking child looking out at them all.

**To be continued! **


End file.
